4 Tips to Eliminate ALL Snipe in Thickness Planers and
In this video I show you how to eliminate snipe when using a thickness planer. I also show how to properly set up the infeed and outfeed tables. The Thickness Planer I use is a DeWalt DW734, but this information applies to all similarly operating planers. You can find an approximate transcript of the video below.
Here are some Amazon affiliate links where I get a small percentage if you use them to purchase a product:
DeWalt DW734 Thickness Planer
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Metal Straight Edge for calibrating your planer:
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Approximate Transcript:
So, I’ve had some viewers leave comments asking how to reduce snipe on a wood planer such as this DeWalt one I have.
There’s one thing that will clear up about 95% of it. And I’ll show you how to do it along with some other tips.
First, snipe is a deeper cut on either the leading or following end of a board, usually caused by improper setup or use of a wood planer or jointer.
Often time people get these larger power tools and assume they’re calibrated and ready to go from the factory. In my experience, that just isn’t the case. Everything from a table saw to a jointer, to a planer and in between will need to be checked to make sure it’s properly set up.
The average person’s planer has a couple infeed and outfeed tables that may fold up and down and a bed in the middle. The most important part of initial calibration is to make sure that the end if the infeed and outfeed tables are perfectly in line with the plane of the bed.
The way you do this is first get a straight edge, like this long metal ruler I have. Always check your reference edge with another one (Such as this level) to make sure it is actually straight.
Then you will want to put the edge on the bed and across the ends of the infeed and outfeed tables. You will also want a flashlight to help you see whether there are air gaps. If there are gaps either raise or lower the respective bolts to remove it. You may have to do this several times until you figure out the right balance between both sides to get everything just right.
Remember that woodworking is an exercise in patience, and the more patient and exact you are when calibrating your tools, the less issues you’ll have at every other step down the line.
Keep the wood even with the plane of the bed. You don’t want either end to dip or raise when entering or exiting the planer.
Also, remember not to cut too much at once. Remember, you can’t be in a hurry, and get great results.
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I just watched 3 videos to learn about my new-to me planer. You are the FIRST one to mention the lock lever and I have learned more from your video then the others combined Thank you.
I haven't even watched half way through yet and I'm already in complete agreeance with everthing you are stating! Definitely going to watch this one more than once and save it to a playlist 👏 You should retitle this one or something else to make it rank better because more people need to see this! Awesome video man! Bravo and Encore!
Just purchased the same planer, and happy to hear your’s makes the same annoying vibrating sound as you wind the head down. I thought I had a dodgy unit and was ready to return it.
Thank you so very much for this video. I just picked up a 20" delta, older unit, but a good oner. Has what you call snipe. Going to check the tables to see if this is the problem. Again, Thank you! Eric
Worked for me! Mine was a little bit out of alignment and correcting it fixed my problem. Thanks
Great job, as was mentioned in a previous post by @lynnetonn, you are the First to mention the lock lever. Picked up some key points. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Feeler gauges work great for this. If not paper can do the job!
Thanks Pal! It was really helpful, useful and clever. Wish you good job and health. Thank you.
@DavidCanMakeThat thanks! Like another person said you are the only person who mentions the screws. I didn't even know they existed... I bought a second hand planer that looked in great condition. I had him demonstrate and it seemed to work well. He said he was selling to upgrade. Due to crappy weather I couldn't use it immediately as I have to use it outside. Not one person told me about cleaning rollers (I made sure the deck was clean. Not one person said wax the deck and nobody said even a clear day...they don't like the cold. I used rubbing alcohol to clean the rollers and waxed the deck. The boards did go through better but not great..apparently slightly frozen wood is not going anywhere. I use free reclaimed wood...I have to be able to plane it. Going forward I have to drag the wood inside to dry out then drag it back outside plus the 90lb planer... Eventually I'll have a workshop. Thanks to you explaining the screws...I'm one step closer!
The place where I source my wood from has an industrial Felder planer with a helical head , digital readout etc and it still has minor snipe when they clean up boards for me and this machine is probably $20,000. I think it is just part of life with a planer. Thanks for the video. Any way that you can minimize snipe even if not get rid of it completely helps.
Been trying to figure out why this keeps happening and never thought of this. Thanks!
Thanks for the video. Saves me from creating another jig.
I fully concur with your comments, well spoken.
Thank you so much. I'm definitely going to do this asap. My planner just started sniping and it's driving me crazy. 😂😂
Good stuff, David. This is really useful info before I buy my first planer. Thanks 👍
On these planers snipe will always be a thing no matter how flat or long your bed is. You can get it pretty good though as you suggest. How these are designed though means that there will always be snipe. In the planer there is a feed roller, the cutter, and another feed roller in that order. When the the board is moving through, it is pressed down by both feed rollers. When the end of the board passes the feed roller in the back, and it's still under the cutter and the front feed roller, the back of the board raises ever so slightly because of the pressure release and following imbalance. So you get some snipe. I built a long melamine bed for mine and that got things down to barely a skim so I can hit it with my drum sander for final thickness. Otherwise I would still be trimming my board, or using a following scrap piece.
@leonardorojas1781
9 ай бұрын
How long did that melamine board last as your planer bed? 😯 I'm planning on making the same using high quality melamine board. Please.
@stuartgray5877
9 ай бұрын
@@leonardorojas1781 Just buy a 12" wide melamine shelf from HD. Cheaper than buying the melamine board and cutting it and it is already trimmed.
@StoneyMeyerhoeffer
8 ай бұрын
@@leonardorojas1781 Sorry for the long wait. I am still using the same melamine. I keep it well treated with paste wax. After some quick napkin math I figure it has had about 2000 linear feet of wood over it. I periodically check for accuracy problems in my thicknessed boards from melamine cupping, but haven't found any that's measureable yet.
@UconventionalWarrior
6 ай бұрын
I have a sneaking suspicion that the snipe is more due to the planer design than wood spring back. Since the cutter head assembly sits on the lead screws gravity holds it down against the screws. When the board passes the first roller, the cutter head assembly lifts a little bit due to backlash in the screws. The lifting due to the first roller causes a mis-alignment of the rollers and cutter head taking a little bite out of the front of your board. As the board passes the first roller at the end, the cutter head assembly falls back down to rest on the leadscrews and the end of the board is sniped. There are other planer designs that move the bed instead of the cutter head, and since both gravity and the feed pressure of the rollers work in the same direction, they shouldn't have the same snipe problem. In theory! I want to make a frame that suspends the planer from the mounting locations used by the handles, which should in theory convert it into a planer of the latter design. Hopefully this will eliminate that small amount of snipe on the ends of the boards.
@StoneyMeyerhoeffer
6 ай бұрын
@@UconventionalWarrior You are right, that is part of it. With this planer design. I have the Grizzly G1021X2 in addtion to my G0940. I still get snipe. You can't expect the wood to be under 2 of the 3 pressure points of the system and not sit differently than when it is under pressure from all 3. I just use a sled when it's important to save all of the workpiece that is going through the planer. It's a little extra setup, but when I can't just trim the snipe off it works great.
I think snipe has more to do with the board not being engaged by both rollers, though uneven board or table will most certainly aggravate it. 2 rollers fore and aft of blade is the only sure way. I'm not sure why manufacturers don't do that as standard. I built a perfectly flat melamin in/outfeed table and I still get a little snipe in my Dewalt 735. The guy who engineers an extra pair of rollers onto his planer gets to go viral.
Gonna fix mine tomorrow!
Thank you !
I have the very similar DW733 planer which I bought used and just overhauled. My problem (and that of others according to the internet) is that the tables are below the bed and the adjusting screws just change the angle of the tables, not their height where they meet the bed. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.
I just got into wood working and finally bought a planner and just bought a Herculese because of the good reviews and somewhat limited use for now but did all the adjustments and found both of the tables are about 1/16th below the center platform causing a good lip that the wood hits and it doesnt seem to feed a piece of 1 x very well, I have to literally push it most of he way with a piece thats 12-24" is this normal or did I get a dud?
A year later and it helped me!
@DavidCanMakeThat
5 ай бұрын
I'm glad!
thank you very much, i was desparate to solve this f.....cking mistery, and he took me half a day to find out what going on thank you. for the tip
Just the end of the infeed and outfeed? Not the whole thing? Hmm...I'll try that, thanks!
@DavidCanMakeThat
9 ай бұрын
It would be better if you could level the whole infeed and outfeed tables, but the DW734 doesn't allow that, as many more every level planers don't. In this case, the outside edge is most important.
A great help - Thanks
I prefer to take off very little but if I don't take enough the feed rollers don't grab enough
Thanks!
while agree that all of those things should be done, that's not really what causes snipe. Snipe is mostly caused by the slack in the cutter head. As the board goes through the first roller catches the board and lifts slightly. This causes the cutting head assembly to become slightly out of level. Once the board catches the out feed roller, the cutting head assembly lift slightly and becomes level and the snipe stops. The same thing happens at the end of the board, except in reverse. Having a planer such as the Dewalt that has a locking feature goes a long way to eliminated the snipe. If your planer doesn't have a lock, then running a sacrificial piece in front of and behind your board will solve the problem.
Seguramente tenes los rodillos endurecidos y no amortiguan lo suficiente el ingreso de la madera.
Seriously. Just glue a cleat on a piece of MDF that is as wide as your planer. Put it in on top of the planer bed.